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HOME ALONE • HOME ALONE 2: LOST IN NEW YORK (1990/92)
To celebrate Christmas Day tomorrow, below are two retrospective reviews of the beloved Home Alone films from the early-1990s, directed by Chris Columbus, written by John Hughes, starring Macaulay Culkin, Joe Pesci, Daniel Stern, Catherine O’Hara and John Sheard… HOME ALONE (1990) Up until 1990’s Home Alone, director Chris Columbus was best-known for writing two seminal adventures…
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LUTHER – Series Four
It’s been two years since we last saw DCI John Luther (Idris Elba); the dishevelled, troubled, imposing detective with a knack for solving extremely violent cases. In the intervening years, following the death of his faithful partner DS Ripley (Warren Brown), Luther’s swapped standing on urban rooftops for country clifftops—as he’s left London, bought himself…
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JESSICA JONES – Season One
Whereas Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D is tethered to the unfolding sprawl of Marvel’s cinematic universe (with The Avengers as elephants-in-the-room), Netflix have found a smarter way to play in the studio’s sandpit. First with the esteemed Daredevil, and now with Jessica Jones, the VOD heavyweight keeps to its own tiny corner of Marvel’s playground—Hell’s Kitchen, New York City—with…
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THE KNICK, 2.10 – ‘This is All We Are’
The Knick has always been a series that boasted a wry and dark sense of humour, which was always necessary to offset the rather grim nature of most of its storylines. But for the season two finale—which may just be doubling up as a series finale, given the nature of how things play out, and…
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STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS (2015)
There’s a moment halfway through Star Wars: The Force Awakens when I realised I was completely on board with the movie. It’s the wordless exchange between Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher as former flames Han Solo and General Organa (née Princess Leia), when they see each other for the first time in years. I was…
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AMERICAN HORROR STORY: HOTEL – ‘She Gets Revenge’
The high points of “She Gets Revenge” are the scenes between Liz (Denis O’Hare) and Douglas (Josh Braaten), the son she abandoned 31-years ago. The show’s sudden, earnest detours often end in heartbreak, so when we learned that Douglas would be staying at the Cortez, there was reason to worry for the young man. Surprisingly,…
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MR. ROBOT – Season One
There are some shows that make you sit up after the first episode and exclaim: ‘what was that I just watched?’ It’s the reaction I had after the first episode of The Sopranos, after the start of Veronica Mars, when Peaky Blinders came roaring onto the screen, and at the beginning of the year with…
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LEGEND (1985)
[usrlist “Theatrical Cut:2.5” “Director’s Cut:4.0”] While Ridley Scott’s long, eclectic filmography has its ups and downs, fans and non-fans alike generally agree that he’s never quite reached the heights of the early one-two punch Alien and Blade Runner. Some would include his first feature, The Duellists, and I’d add his 1985 fantasy epic Legend. While it’s clearly not quite…
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HEAT (1995)
Michael Mann’s Heat is essentially a ‘cops and robbers’ story. But, of course, it’s also a hell of a lot more than that. Unlike many of Mann’s greatest films—in particular Manhunter (1986), Miami Vice (2003), and more recently Blackhat (2015)—Heat is a film that was critically and commercially successful on release, and now regarded as…
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THE KNICK, 2.9 – ‘Do You Remember Moon Flower?’
As has so often been the case this season, the opening shot of “Do You Remember Moon Flower?” is designed specifically to startle us. The jarring sight of a vivid green jungle vista is perhaps the most colourful shot in The Knick’s history, and the opening moments are reminiscent of nothing less than one of…
